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Sunday, December 17, 2006

Here is Christine Kreyling's and the Nashville Civic Design Center's vision for the re-development of the Morgan Park area. In the Plan of Nashville, Kreyling proposes expanding Morgan Park west to the Werthan property and east to the river. The currently operational Werthan Packing Plant (corner of Hume and 5th) would be closed and torn down and a Governor's mansion, suited for functions but not for residence, would anchor that corner.

The recreational facilities in the park would give way to a "Governor's Green" with a reclaimed surface water shed to the river (it is currently buried). In one drawing, the baseball diamond has been moved east between 2nd and 3rd. However, our community center would go away in Kreyling's plans. This re-development would be part of what Kreyling calls the "River District," which includes Germantown, East Germantown, Hope Gardens, parts of Cheatham Place (a.k.a., Historic Buena Vista) and the blocks of Salemtown south of Garfield.

This is an ambitious plan that I don't see happening any time soon, and with the money that Parks is about to invest in a new playground, community center renovations, and diamond upgrades, I don't see this plan happening in my lifetime. I also have a hard time understanding how one could justify doing away with a neighborhood community center, even in the name of creating more green space and ridding ourselves of unsightly Werthan Packing.

1 comment:

This proposed redevelopment plan is absolute pie-in-the-sky. The extended park is just a minor item - they also call for eliminating the interstates. Fat Chance.

We would probably be better off with some kind of reasonable plan that could actually happen and is more incremental in scope. Grandiose plans like this tend to stall redevelopment rather than encourage it.